The present invention pertains to a Communication Apparatus (CA) with integrated functionalities of a User Equipment (UE) and a Home Node-B (HNB).
In order to avoid over complicating the description, the meaning and/or definition of each term or abbreviation is given only for the 1st encounter in the background and summary sections of the present patent application. As a convenience to the reader, a glossary table of the non-standard abbreviations and terms is provided in FIG. 24A and FIG. 24B and the reader can usefully refer to this glossary.
In recent years, there is a dramatic rise in data traffic experienced in mobile networks due to the proliferation of Smartphones, Tablets and other UEs, which are capable of video streaming, file downloading and other data intensive applications. Another contribution to the increased mobile data traffic is the increased deployment of Machine to Machine (M2M) devices and Smart Home devices. It has been reported that Global mobile data traffic doubles each year, i.e. forecast to increase 1,000-fold between 2010 and 2020.
From the customer's perspective, it is only natural that he/she expects to receive the same services, at the same quality, from their Mobile Network Operator (MNO) as he/she used to have from their Network Service Provider (NSP). This is even exacerbated by the growing trend of customers wishing a “one stop shop” for all their communications needs. As a result there is a trend for consolidation in the industry, in which NSPs, either Land line or Cable operators, are merging with MNOs to provide “Quad Play” plans which include Land line phone, Internet, TeleVision (TV) & Mobile phone services.
From a technical perspective, as the generations for cellular technology are progressing, from 2nd Generation (2G) to 3rd Generation (3G) to 4th Generation (4G), the frequency band allocations are generally getting higher. Therefore it is getting more difficult to achieve coverage and capacity, especially in urban and dense urban areas, due to wave propagation limitations. This is even exacerbated by the proportional increase of indoor usage. It has been reported that mobile traffic indoors is more than 60% of all mobile traffic as of 2012, with a trend to reach more than 80% in coming years.
From the MNOs' perspective, they are facing a big challenge. As networks reach full capacity, it is more likely to result in an increase of data traffic jams, and hence a degradation in the Quality of Service (QoS) for mobile users, especially indoors, which will result in increased dissatisfaction and churn by their customers. Therefore the MNOs need urgently to increase coverage and capacity. However doing so in the conventional way, i.e. increasing network resources is both very expensive and time consuming, mainly due to technical complexities and local regulations regarding building of cellular towers. Analysts show that data volumes are likely to rise faster than the revenue used to build and maintain the networks. This cost vs. revenue gap is exacerbated by a business model used by some MNOs which offer a flat rate for unlimited data usage. It is therefore apparent that mobile broadband is at a crossroads as networks and business models are strained by bandwidth demand that is unmatched by revenue generation.
Another challenge MNOs face is the trend for increased usage of Over the Top (OTT) services like Skype & Viber for replacing cellular voice calls, WhatsApp for replacing Short Message Service (SMS) and Netflix, Hulu & Tango for replacing TV & video services. This is even exacerbated where flat rate data plans exist. This trend, will eventually transform the MNOs into a “dumb pipe” providers. These services, especially the TV & video, require large amount of data traffic, whereas growing proportion of the revenues go to the value added providers which are the OTT operators. MNOs cannot block these services, in most places, due to Network Neutrality regulations. The OTT challenge is even exacerbated when the MNO's subscribers are offloading themselves from the MNO's network into another network, e.g. Wi-Fi/Internet, while using the OTT service, causing the MNO to entirely lose control of what they are doing.
Another issue currently pending an appropriate solution is the roaming tariffs, especially the Data roaming tariffs for customers who are traveling abroad.
The roaming tariffs for leisure and business travelers can be very high for data calls, relative to the local tariffs. This depends on the home country, the visiting country and the specific MNOs involved. There have been reports on “bill shock” experienced by customers who were using their UE abroad in the same fashion they used to at home, not being aware of the roaming tariffs. In some regions, like the European Union (EU), the regulator is trying to deal with the issue by posing strict regulations on roaming tariffs. In other regions this is left to market forces.
MNOs cannot offer HNBs to their roaming customers, as the cellular spectrum in each country is licensed to its local MNOs.
There is therefore a need to overcome or improve at least one of the problems of the prior art. In particular there is a need to address the capacity & coverage needs of the MNOs and the roaming needs of the traveling customers, in improving the provision of mobile voice and broadband data services, either at home or abroad.